.png)
15000-Word Ultimate Guide that will help you ideate, brand yourself, and craft great products.
Ultimate Guide that helps you generate high-signal ideas and create work that is unique.
> Get started, get going, get great
> Create a life of meaning, money & impact
Hey there, Arjun here
'The Pursuit of Creating’ is one of my favourite emails to write.
And yes I used present tense ⎯ why?
Because I still update this email from time to time ↓
> Get started, get going, get great
> Create a life of meaning, money & impact
The first section will outline what you can expect in the 3 phases + prime you for them.
The second section will give you a goal you can aim towards and how you can get there.
The secret to success is to pursue skills that are not taught in school.
Here are the skills you need to master in the new digital economy ↓
There are two types of skills:
Meta-skills are skills that help you learn other skills faster.sss
Here are 3 meta-skills you need to learn:
Now, let’s break down the actual skills you need to learn.
But first, I need you to understand that in a business, there are two main aspects: Offer and Traffic.
Offer is the product/service you are trying to sell.
Traffic is the distribution. It’s how you are going to get people to see your offer. In most cases, this will be social media content.
To master offers, you need these skills:
To master traffic, you need these skills:
Let’s move on to maintenance skills.
These are skills that can be delegated. But at the start, you need to learn them.
Some of these skills include:
Essentially, these are the skills needed to run the admin and make sure your website, products, or the software you use works properly.
They require the technical aspect of your brain.
Now, all you have to do is combine this skill stack with the skills you are actually teaching.
So for example, if you teach people how to learn programming:
Modern skill stack (offers and traffic) + maintenance skills + Programming + your creative interests = Irreplaceable
Your creative interests include your curiosities. This could be nature, philosophy, neuroscience or others.
Adding these creative interests into your brand will make you unique and form your niche of one.
The Socratic Method ↓
All successful entrepreneurs are lifelong students.
Commit yourself to lifelong Learning. The most valuable asset you will ever have is your mind and what you put into it. ⎯ Albert Einstein
Learning is a skill and one of the best ways to improve your learning process is by using the Socratic Method.
But first, who is Socrates?
Socrates was a Greek philosopher who sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. (credits https://www.law.uchicago.edu/socratic-method)
This became known as the Socratic Method.
So next time you come across a thought, suggestion, or any piece of content, ask yourself why, understand other viewpoints and ask questions.
When you first get started, the first period is the most fun, riskless, and ruleless. There is very little at stake when you first start. Try as much as you can. Take on risk when you have fewer responsibilities at stake.
Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.
I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t try new things, how would you know if they’ll work or not?
Set up an environment where the decision-making happens free of the misguiding force of persuasion ⎯ Rick Rubin
Guiding principles are important — when you first start.
You need to know what you’re getting into.
Understand how to get to your desired outcome.
Only strategy isn’t enough. Execution is needed.
A lot of people think they’re making progress when in fact, they’re just strategising.
Don’t get me wrong, strategy is important. Because poor strategy = failed execution.
It’s the equivalent of building the foundation of a building.
So, what does execution mean?
Execution = Carrying out a plan
This is the period where you go full on with learning the skills you need and mastering them.
Okay, now that you are familiar with the field, and have experience + expertise in your field.
You can start to un-structure the structured.
What do I mean by ‘Un-structure The Structured’?
I mean, forgo all the guiding principles you learned.
Start from a clean slate.
“Forget” about the competition.
“Forget” about the things you built so far.
Look at your work from fresh eyes.
If you can create anything you want (if there were no skills/money limitations), what would you create?
Write it down. Figure out a way to do that.
When you are deeply immersed in your work, you tend to develop a certain kind of blindness around it — which stops you from seeing potential possibilities/improvements.
Look from fresh eyes. As if that work wasn’t yours.
Reconstruct and rebuild.
I like to think of it as aligning your stars to work for you.
A meaningful life is subjective.
It comes from within.
What might be considered meaningful to some people might not be for you.
It’s like a journey. Scratch that. It is a journey — a lifelong journey.
Here’s a real-life story to help illustrate it better ↓
I met an elderly man the other day when I went for a haircut.
This is what he said when I asked him what he thinks is the meaning of life:
It’s easy to chase material things, but the beauty of life is that you have to adjust to what you have and be satisfied. If you have enough, be happy. If you have more than what you have, give to others. I have my shop, family, and work. That’s all I need.
Satisfaction.
Sometimes all you need is to be happy with what you have and if you get more things in the future, just welcome them with an open hand.
Figure out what you truly need in life. Is it money? Fame? Connections?
One way of figuring out what you want is to ↓
Imagine this:
You are a 80 year old man. You are in a deserted place with no one. But you led a life full of activities, e.t.c. What do you think you will remember the most?
It’s hard to put into perspective because you don’t see yourself in that situation. But, one day, you will become old. That’s a fact.
For me, a life of meaning is to help others. What’s yours?
But, most of the time, to create a life of meaning, you need money.
Money gets you the resources to be happy or miserable. The choice is in your hands. It amplifies who you are.
This creates a nice segway to the next part.
Having money isn’t enough. It’s more about having leverage and a work-life balance.
The best way to do that is by building a personal brand and letting systems do the work.
At the start, it takes much more time, energy, and effort but that’s how life works.
Once you build expertise, you will soon start to see that people and opportunities will come to you instead of you finding them.
Building expertise is a whole new topic but it can be simplified into a simple 4-step process.
Learn. Build. Offer. Scale
Learn skills.
Build using those skills.
Offer value to others regarding topics related to your skills + your interests.
Then, Scale using products.
Many companies have an impact but true influence is when everyone stops and looks at you when you say something.
Like Apple.
Apple rarely posts anything on social media, but when they do, everyone listens.
Let’s take Pablo Picasso as an example. Pablo Picasso’s style of art is very distinct.
In the past, a lot of people didn’t like his style of art. They found it weird and “ugly” but now he is considered as one of the best painters of his time.
Why?
It’s his own distinct style. He was able to make an impact on other people’s lives simply by having a distinct style.
Okay, but having a distinct style isn’t enough, right?
It’s more about consistently delivering on that style for years andyears on end.
You need to consistently use your own style even if you don’t get a good response at the start.
Because if you do something in the same way for many many years, people will start to notice it and they’ll start to like it.
It’s like the saying, “The more you see it, the more you like it”
The key here is to just show up every day and provide value that distinguishes you from others.
If you can spend $40000 and 4 years studying a degree for a job, to work for someone else. You can definitely spend 2-3 hours a day working by yourself for yourself.
That’s the end of this email. Hope you enjoyed this one.
While this isn’t the most detailed email or the best email you’ll read from me, this provides a good starting point for your journey. Even for those who have been in the game for a couple of years.
Lastly, I also want to introduce you to The 3Fs.
These 3 are timeless principles that shape our actions and desires.
Most people will not be able to fulfill these 3 in their lifetime. But you are different.
The fact that you were able to find this bubble (yes, you are in a bubble, in a corner of the internet)
shows that you are not willing to settle for less. You are looking for something more. Something that fulfills your vision. Something that helps you and those around you.
And the best way to fulfill The 3Fs is to create great work.
On the internet, that could be equivalent to building a brand and crafting products that solve a problem that falls under the 3Us (unworkable, unavoidable, urgent)
And if you've got a moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this edition of The DZ Letter.
Send me a quick message - I reply to every email!
Liked what you read? Share The DZ Letter with your friends to help spread the value.
Want to read past letters? Click here
Have a wonderful rest of your day and see you in the next letter, my friends.
Cheers,
Arjun, DisplayZen
1 - If you want to scale your products with user-centric product design and strategy:
Work With Me - This is a qualifying form that will help us see if you're a good fit for our services
2 - A new product is in the works. To make the best product for you, I need more feedback from you:
Join My Product Waitlist - Get instant access to the same system I used to build my brand strategy + an exclusive offer when it launches
.png)